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This is a good thread. I don't know squat about welding pipe and would never attempt it but it sounds really interesting. I have been trying to learn about it and threads like this are good source of info. Kudos to those with inputs.

Hey Jetmekdc-10, it is a great thread! I have learned so much already and I'm only 16! If I were you I would give pipe a try. I even did some TIG welding on a scrap piece of pipe a few times just to see what its like, and I'm not even close to being good, but if you don't try you can't learn. Thats what I figured out so far, the more you weld, the better you get.

I've beveled some pipe and messed with it in my shop but I would not take on a job that required a spec pipe weld. My hats are off to you guys up in Canada though. Colder than I could take. I wish there was a decent school to go to here in Memphis to learn pipe welding. I'd take it in a second! Most of the calls I get in my new venture are simple things that anyone decent with a mig can handle. Some mobile Tig stuff is starting to pick up though.,Adam

Thats great to just mess around with things, its how I learned to weld. Its to bad their's not a decent school to go to where you are. Its pretty sparse up here to, I'm taking mine through the school so I can still graduate, (still in grade 11) but I do the welding at the local union shop.

out of pure curiosity, what is an "A","B","C" ticket in BC. ive got my sk. 6" "B" and my alberta small-bore "B". from what i understand, a "C" ticket here is only valid with the companyyou tested with, am i wrong?

In B.C. you recieve training for and have to pass a variety of practical tests for each ticket level. Also an assortment of written exams on metallurgy, layout, codes and standards etc. School time and work experiance must total one year for each level. In all cases it is likely that any company you hire on to will have their own procedural test. Working from memory...
'C' ticket....all position 6010/7018 open root plate, and all position 'CWB type' stick, mig, and flux core plate with backing strip
'B' ticket....6G 6010/7018 pipe, mild steel open root tig on plate, aluminum tig on plate
'A' ticket....6G 7018 root/cap on pipe, stainless stick root/cap on pipe, mild steel tig on pipe, stainless tig on pipe, intro to open root aluminum tig on pipe

Thanks, I try and avoid welding at -50, so the regular ones should be ok for what I do?

It isn't the temp when you put in the weld, it is the temp the weld will see in service. With either, the minimum temp of the base metal when the wed goes in should be 50F, 70F is better, unless there is a reason for more preheat.

One place where the -1 variant is often required is marine work. It can get mighty cold in the north atlantic.